Cill Dara Shinn Féin Poblachtach

Republican Sinn Féin called for a fully independent, comprehensive
and public inquiry into the banking system on June 27. Such an inquiry
should also look at the role played by the then 26-County administration
as well, along with their neo-liberal economic cheerleaders on the
opposition benches of the Leinster House Assembly.

The contempt displayed by senior executives of the now defunct
Anglo Irish Bank – as revealed in the so-called “Anglo tapes” - merely
serves to illustrate the contempt in which the political and financial
elite hold the mass of the Irish people. The subsequent decision of the
26-County State to bail out the banking system heralded the beginning of
a vicious war of economic attrition waged against ordinary people
throughout the 26 Counties. The very fact that the Leinster House
political class think even now they should have a role in investigating
what occurred within the banking system underlines their disconnect from
the public mood.

The same political elite who are proposing to hold an in-house
inquiry into the banking, championed the very concept of so-called
“light-touch” regulation. This was of course just code for the
free-for-all that was not only tolerated but encouraged by the political
establishment that took place within the financial sector. When this
pyramid scheme economic system collapsed it was the Irish people who
were expected to foot the bill.

All of this reinforces our argument for a banking system which
first and foremost serves a social function, serving as an economic
driver for the essentials of a just and civilised society capable of
providing truly national health programme accessible to all at the point
of need, equal access to education at all levels and a system of real
social protection for our old, young and those on the margins of
society. As we point out in our social and economic programme Saol Nua
(A New Way of Life), social control of capital is essential to ensure
capital serves people rather than people being the slaves of capital.

By doing so you ensure balanced development and equitable
distribution of wealth. Money must be regarded, not as a commodity, but
as an accounting system in which all participate.